Cold Wind
by Shrapnel33
Summary: On the hunt for a criminal, Connor winds up in freezing water, leaving Hank to get him home and warmed up. This was pretty much an excuse to bury Connor under a pile of blankets. (Spoilers for Hanks backstory. Father/Son relationship.) (Previously listed as a work in progress, which was a mistake, I'm sorry about that, it's just a one-shot.)


**(I haven't posted anything in over a year, whoops. This story assumes best ending but with Simons rooftop death.)**

The cold wind was brisk against Hanks face, ruffling through his hair and nipping at his ears. It was too cold to be out on a night like tonight, but there was no way Connor would allow Hank to sleep after he picked up reports of an attack on a trio of androids down by the docks. There was no doubt it was a hate crime based on what the androids recounted the human had screamed at them before brutally attacking them. One of the androids had been knocked down, suffering damage to an optical unit, before the human fled. All three of them reported he had escaped into a nearby warehouse and no one had seen him leave yet, so Connor had been eager to get down there and catch the attacker before he got away.

Even if it was only ten degrees outside. Hank hunched his shoulders, trying to hide in the raised collar of his jacket as the snow swirled around him. He shook his head, marveling at Connor as the android damn near bounded towards the warehouse door. Not even three months ago he had been devoting all his time to tracking down deviants and now here he was, holding humans accountable for crimes against androids. The hunter becomes the guardian.

Connor was peering in through a window when Hank joined him. "What do you see?"

"The first floor appears to be stacked with crates, but there is a small second floor with three offices. The staircase is in this corner to the right of the door. For times sake, I propose you take the second floor as I will be more efficient searching amongst the crates."  
"Whatever you say," Hank said. He drew his gun, giving it a check before clasping it in his hand. He nodded to Connor and the android yanked the door open, Hank entering first to do a quick sweep of the immediate area before making his way to the staircase. It didn't take long to check each room, the first two only having simple tables and small filing cabinets. The last room was an office with a broad desk, the only thing big enough to hide behind, but even that was empty.

He was making his way back to the staircase when he heard shuffling footsteps and the warehouse door slammed shut twice with a bang each time. He kept his gun raised as he slowly descended the stairs, watching and listening for any movement. There was nothing in the vicinity, so he pushed the door open with his shoulder, keeping his gun ready. There was no one in sight. He held his breath and listened for a moment. He was just about to quietly call out for Connor when he could feel his phone vibrating against his leg. "For fucks sake," he muttered, retrieving his phone from his pocket. 'UNKNOWN' proclaimed across the screen. He jabbed his finger at it and answered with a gruff hello.

"Hank.. I need help."

"Connor? Where the hell did you go?"

"While you were upstairs someone ran out of the warehouse and I pursued them. I briefly lost them at the edge of the dock and they managed to shove me into the water and I have become tangled in something and am trapped under the water near the jetty."

"How the hell are you calling me if you are under water?" Hank asked, already hurrying towards the edge of the tall cement wall that made up the dock.

"I do not have a phone and only speak orally when speaking to humans and other androids face to face, I am transmitting to your phone. Please Hank, I do not think I have much time before the water temperature disables me."

"I'm coming, hold on kid. Are you able to get free?"

"I am trying. I believe a discarded net has my leg trapped, I have broken some of the strands but it isn't enough for me to shake it off yet, I am still trying."

Hank made it to the ramp leading down to the jetty, scanning the icy water. "Can you give me a sign of where you are?"

Just then he could see Connor's hand waving just below the surface, pale skin lambent against the dark water. Hank spared no time, plunging his hand into the water to latch onto Connor's arm and pulling him towards the surface. There was resistance for a moment before the net Connor had become tangled in let go and he finally burst upwards with a splatter of freezing cold water, scrambling to find purchase on the slick jetty while Hank pulled on the back of his jacket to get him fully out of the water.

The android forced himself to cough, dispelling the fluid that had made its way into his body and adding it to the ever-growing puddle of freezing water around him. "Connor! Jesus kid, you scared the shit out of me."

"I'm ok! I'm.. ok." Connor claimed, coughing the last bits of fluid out. He sat up and tottered dangerously before Hank caught him against his chest.

"Yeah, that sounds about as convincing as the last time you told me that. Are you hurt?"

Connor blinked, a faraway look in his eyes, as the LED on his temple flickered from red to yellow for a few seconds and then settled on red again.

"There is minor damage to my left lower leg, though it is mostly cosmetic and my self-repairing skin will take care of it in due time. Most pressing is my internal temperature, it is dangerously low and I will shut down if I cannot regulate it quickly."

"How do I help with that, do you have a heater or something?"

"A small one yes, but much like a human, I need an external heat source to warm up faster. My heater will not be able to get me to the proper temperature in time."

Hank could feel the android vibrating against his chest, not dissimilar to a human shivering and moved to get them both on their feet again. "How long do you have?"

"Twelve minutes and forty-eight seconds until shut down."

"Ten minutes to my place, so we'll be cutting it close. Let's go."

The flashing red and blue lights of Chris' patrol car painted the buildings around them as they approached the car. Chris had the perp bent over the hood, snapping handcuffs around their wrists. He glanced up at them, giving them a nod and an inquisitive look at the soaking wet state of Connor. "I got it from here if you need to go."

"Thanks, Chris," Hank said with a grunt.

The drive was quiet, Hank drove as quickly as he could get away with without getting flagged by a radar drone and kept his music low. He stole glances at Connor often, searching for any change in his condition. Connor sat ramrod straight in the passenger seat, his LED red in the reflection of the window. Halfway home Hank noticed his eyes were closed and his head tilted forward.

"Connor? You still with me?"

There was a pause before he responded. "Yes, Lieutenant. I have six minutes and thirteen seconds until shut down."

Hank said nothing but put his foot down on the accelerator a little harder. This was going to be close.

When they pulled into the driveway he threw the door open before he even put the car into park, moving to open Connor's door as well before realizing he was already halfway out. He turned instead to the front door, unlocking it and heading straight for the closet with the stack of extra blankets. When he returned to the front room, Connor was standing in the doorway, his clothes dripping onto the mat by the door.

"One minute and thirty-nine seconds.." his voice trailed off.

"Get over here and lay down. Take off some clothes, your jacket at least, so you're not so wet." Hank pointed at the floor in front of the couch."Sumo!" Sumo came bounding in from the bedroom, nudging at Hank's legs as Connor did as directed, kicking off his shoes and leaving his jacket on a hook on the wall before moving into the living room and slowly laying down on his side on the carpet. He was shaking, his bodies attempt at warming itself up. Hank dumped the blankets on the couch, grabbed the first one and shook it out to lay over Connor. As he reached for the second blanket he commanded Sumo to lay down too, right up against Connor with the blanket in between them and then laid the next blanket over both of them, followed by three more. By the time all the blankets were in place at least a minute had gone by and Connor was lying still with his eyes closed. From standing, Hank was unable to see the LED from the angle of Connor's head, uncertain if it was even lit up anymore and he dropped to his knees, nearly putting his face against the carpet in an attempt to see the light. It flickered between red and yellow, but it was lit at least. From there he could see Sumo's face poking out from the blanket, snuggled up against Connor's chest. The dogs forehead was furrowed, as though he sensed something was seriously wrong and he was playing an important role in fixing it.

"Connor?"

Connor's face twitched, his eyebrows raising slightly but eyes staying closed. "Yes, lieutenant?"

"Is this helping?"

"Yes, lieutenant. I am-" his voice cut out but his jaw kept moving as though there were muscles that needed to be stretched out before he clamped his mouth shut again for a moment. "I am no longer in danger of shutting down, but my temperature is rising very slowly. My system recommends I go into low power mode until an optimal temperature is reached."

Hank nodded and gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder. "You do that. I'll check on you in a few hours."

Hank put his hand on the floor to push himself up when Connor's hand shot out and snagged on his sleeve. "Can you stay with me, lieutenant?" His voice was quiet and scared sounding, not unlike that moment on the rooftop after the deviant shot himself while Connor was connected.

"Y-yeah of course. Let me put on some dry clothes, I'll be back in a second." Hank said, flabbergasted by how scared the android sounded. He gently patted Connor's hand before pushing himself to his feet. He grabbed the wheat bag he used when he had sore joints and muscles from the drawer in the side table and tossed it into the microwave for a minute before hurrying to his bedroom to change out of his wet jeans into dry sweatpants and a t-shirt. After a moment of consideration he stripped the duvet off of his bed and tucked it under his arm. The microwave beeped just as he left his room again and he retrieved the wheat bag before returning to the living room. Connor hadn't moved and Sumo was still dutifully pressed against him under the pile of blankets. Hank removed the top blanket, a smaller one that probably wasn't doing much to help anyway and replaced it with the duvet before lowering himself to the floor, leaning against the couch next to Connor's head and spreading the smaller blanket across his own legs. Wheat bag in hand, he wiggled his arm into the blankets behind Connor's back, placing the foot long bag of warmth down the length of Connor's spine. The android briefly opened his eyes, turning his head slightly to look up at Hank.

"Thank you," he said simply.

"Figured it would help. Go to sleep. Or low power mode, whatever you want to call it." Hank said, running his hand over Connor's forehead and brushing his damp hair back. Conner rest his head against the floor, closing his eyes again as Hank messed with his hair. The motion was calming for Hank, he hadn't even realized how high strung he had been the entire way home until now, sitting in the calmness of the living room, the threat of the loss of his partner not breathing down his neck anymore. His heart had been pounding and he could feel the energy drain from his body as he didn't have to fight against the adrenaline anymore.

He studied the androids face. The involuntary twitches caused by the cold had ceased and looking at him now, if he were human and lying so still one would think he were dead. Just as the thought crossed his mind Connor quietly sighed before settling into a steady breathing rhythm and Hank realized he had been holding his breath, as though he had subconsciously been waiting for Connor to breathe. He huffed at himself, shaking his head. Connor wasn't human, he didn't need to breathe, but it did make Hank feel better when he imitated the motions at least, as he was now. Now he looked like a real person, sleeping in a pile of blankets hugging an oversized dog to his chest.

An oversized dog Hank had adopted for his own son. He remembered the day he brought Sumo home, just a puppy but already almost as big as two-year-old Cole, who tottered curiously over to the bundle of fluff Hank had deposited onto the kitchen floor. The laughter in the house had been infectious that evening as he and his wife watched Cole and Sumo trying to figure each other out, each babbling and yipping happily. They were a happy family for four years, Hank, his wife Isabelle, Cole and Sumo.

Then his world crashed down around him. In less than a year he lost his son, his sobriety, and then his wife. Coming home to a house with only half the contents it should've had and Sumo whining by the door was still only the second worst day of his life. It hadn't surprised him, he had almost been expecting it, but no warning and not even a note on the table hurt nonetheless.

What would his life have looked like if that truck hadn't hit them? If the car never rolled? If that goddamn surgeon hadn't been too high to operate? Different, certainly. He would've dropped Cole off at school this morning before going to work. Cole would already be in the fourth grade, maybe playing hockey after school and Isabelle would take him to practice when Hank had to work late. Would Cole have wanted to be a cop like his dad? Followed in Hank's footsteps to become a detective?

He sniffed and rubbed his hands over his face, trying to scrub away the thoughts. It didn't matter how it could have been, there was no way to change it now. Without it happening he probably wouldn't have met the android currently buried under a mound of blankets beside him either. As much as his heart mourned for his family, he couldn't bring them back. And while he had been initially skeptical and irritated by Connor, he had grown fond of him. He wasn't Cole, he couldn't replace his family, but Hank had caught himself more than once thinking of him as his son.

He clenched his hands, twisting the blanket in his fists as he thought of the half pack of beer in the fridge, his thirst for a drink overwhelming. He reached behind his head and grabbed two of the pillows, gently lifting Connor's head to wedge a pillow under it. Connor's eyes opened in alarm at the movement and then blinked curiously up at Hank. Hank shrugged at him and shoved the other pillow between his own head and the edge of the couch.

"Why did you start breathing?" he asked. Might as well since he was currently awake.

"You were holding your breath. I correctly assumed you were waiting for me to breathe, which is usually not active during low power mode, so I switched it back on."

Hank grunted, nodding his head and trying to keep his face blank. He appreciated it, but didn't know exactly how to express it. He realized he didn't have to when he glanced down again and Connor's eyes were closed.

He grabbed the tv remote, flicking it on and turning the volume down low to distract himself until he fell asleep slumped against the couch.


End file.
